You may never have heard of Photofast, but the company makes a lot of flash memory-related products. And now it's starting to produce Apple hardware accessories, and has created a prototype camera for the iPad which will "launch later this year". 

The mock-up simply uses a Microsoft webcam connected to the dock port, but the final product will look quite different. It’s potentially to be used for video conferencing, but could also take snapshots.

Oh, and there’s a slight typo on the picture, as it’s a 2-megapixel camera, not 200-megapixel. 

For video, it will be limited to 640 x 480 on the iPad, and is said to work with instant messaging apps. Photofast told us that it’s quite a complex product to make for the Apple device, but the company is confident that it will be ready later this year. 

The manufacturer is also working on a TV-tuner solution for the iPad that will also connect via the dock port, but again, there were no solid details on this product. Photofast wasn’t quite as confident about this product, but ensures us that it could make something happen.

 
Photofast's CR-8200 iPod Memory Dock

A more tangible product from the company is its CR-8200 iPhone/iPod/iPad dock (although we’re not sure how the iPad is meant to fit). Its basic functionality is similar to that of the Griffin Simplifi, as in it allows the various Apple devices to access memory cards while docked. However, Photofast has also added the ability to back up your contacts to a memory card, something the Simplifi doesn’t support at the moment.

Vague as it may be, Photofast is certainly a company to keep an eye out for.

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